My old furnace was set to 160 degrees. I figured to reduce cost so I lowered the temperature to 140 degrees.
Does anyone have experience with an old oil furnace? Is there an advantage to setting it higher?
John
Is it a water system with radiators ?
Do you have a single heater for both HW and for the radiators/baseboard heat? If so, 160 to 180 is common so the radiators work efficiently. If it is a standalone, 140 is good, even 120.
Along those lines, I saw where the code is Mass is no more that 120 at the faucet. How is that achieved with the single heater situation that many oil burners have? Ed
My system is a steam heat with water on demand (tankless). As I stated before I set the water temperature to 140 degrees. I just read that water heaters and other devices are set to 140.5 by the manufacturer.
Hi Edwin, hope you are having a nice day
On 19-Jun-05 At About 18:09:03, Edwin Pawlowski wrote to All Subject: Re: Heating water with Oil
EP> From: "Edwin Pawlowski"
EP> Along those lines, I saw where the code is Mass is no more that 120 EP> at the faucet. How is that achieved with the single heater EP> situation that many oil burners have? Ed
A mixing valve is used. it mixes hot and cold to get the proper temp
-=> HvacTech2
Where and how did you set the temperature? you really ought to read up on the furnace and understand how it works and so on before twiddling knobs. Change the wrong thing and come winter your gonna freeze or end up using a ton of oil. Eric
===> Depends: It should be set to its design specifications: That's where it's going to be most efficient and most reliable.
PopS
I don't have instructions on this steam system other than the burner unit. It heats water and makes steam.. It may be that it would be best to turn it back up at the start of the heating season. But then, if room thermostat dictates, what difference does it make?
Maybe you could give a clear picture of how the system functions?
by a pressure-switch, normally.
You've a water-heater which would be a heat-exchanger in the main boiler, per your description of "tankless".
Could be you've:
When calling for steam-heat, operation would totally ignore 2. above, and your domestic hot-water would be lethal. The pieces don't fit.
My bet: it's not "tankless"- rather, there's a hot-water storage tank that has heat transferred from heat exchanger in main boiler, with circ-pump starting on drop below set-point (e.g. 140 F.) And ... a thermostat for the main boiler to maintain some temp (above 140 F in the example) when the circ-pump is running.
Steam-boilers have special requirements. I sure wouldn't fool around with any settings/controls on one- the insurance co. could get pretty puckered-up if you blew one up. Probably better, and certainly much more energy-efficient, to go for separate water-heater.
HTH, J
New & Improved - N/F John wrote:
Several questions or points to make.
#1 Furnaces heat air. Boilers heat water.
#2 Is it steam or hot water?
#3 Most hot water systems are designed to operate 'on the coldest day' at
180°. Setting it at 160° or below is great until that coldest day arrives.#4 (from reading the other posts in the thread) do you have a problem with your hot water? If you are using a tankless WH, you may want to invest in a stand-alone WH instead of an indirect (not tankless).
Okay?
We installed a new "hot water furnace" in our summer home 15 years ago. The whole unit is a about 1 foot by 2 feet by 2 feet. It burns number 2 fuel oil - similar to diesel fuel - in fact some folks in our town were cheap and used this fuel oil in their diesel cars - much cheaper - no road taxes. (not me - don't rip me)
The house has two floors - each floor has its own perimeter baseboard radiators. Each floor has its own thermostat. When the thermostat for a floor calls for heat - a small water circulator pump pumps hot water through the radiators to make it warm. The furnace then goes on to make hot water. There is no "boiler" in our unit.
When one turns on the shower - the furnace comes on and sends instant hot water to the shower. You have endless hot water.
The whole system has functioned flawlessly for us for 15 years. It is as close to a perfect system for that house as I can imagine. It was our regular home since 1973 - now we have it for summers. The system has kept up with outside temperatures of -20 degrees.
For the guy that says it is a "boiler" not a "furnace" - I wonder why it is made by EFM (Electric Furnace Manufacturers). They have been in the business for 80 years.
Hi Harry, hope you are having a nice day
On 20-Jun-05 At About 11:04:03, Harry wrote to All Subject: Re: Heating water with Oil
H> From: Harry
H> For the guy that says it is a "boiler" not a "furnace" - I wonder why H> it is made by EFM (Electric Furnace Manufacturers). They have been H> in the business for 80 years.
That is just the name of the company that made it. it is actually a boiler, not a furnace.
-=> HvacTech2
I guess I don't know everything about furnances or boilers. It has a burner, a little door where you can watch the flame go into a small box. The tank above it holds about 20 or so gallons. (Not tankless I guess now that I think of it). So I guess I want to know how it works. It has no pump. It has a pressure release value outside of the metal jacket surrounding the unit. Inside it has the temperature control for water.
I lowered the temperature guage and the water is cooler. How will this effect the steam heat in the winter or will it not?
I guess it is a boiler. It has a burner, a little door where you can watch the flame go into a small box. The tank above it holds about 20 or so gallons. (Not tankless I guess now that I think of it). So I guess I want to know how it works. It has no pump. It has a pressure release value outside of the metal jacket surrounding the unit. Inside it has the temperature control for water.
I lowered the temperature guage and the water is cooler. How will this effect the steam heat in the winter or will it not? I thought that lowering the water temp might save a few bucks. The water temp at 160 seems too hot at times. What do you think?
Hi New, hope you are having a nice day
On 20-Jun-05 At About 13:57:14, New & Improved - N/F John wrote to All Subject: Re: Heating water with Oil
N&I-N> From: "New & Improved - N/F John"
N&I-N> I lowered the temperature guage and the water is cooler. How will N&I-N> this effect the steam heat in the winter or will it not?
This won't have any effect on the heating temp but it will decrease the amount of available hot water you get.
-=> HvacTech2
Steam is steam. At sea level, water boils and makes steam at 212°. That temp drops with any rise in elevation.
If you are talking about adjusting the tempering valve, that's a real good idea.
No pump or circulator, huh? It's an oil burner too?
It is a oil burner. It has no pump or circulator that I am aware of. When you say adjusting the tempering valve, I assume you mean the water temperature for use with showers, etc. Because if the boiler makes steam to heat the house, the water temperature must rise to be 212 degrees F. I have always found the best time to shower was when the radiators were hot. The tempering valve keeps the boiler at the bare minimum temperature I assume if you heat water also. Do you agree with this analysis?
No.
Well, what is IT? I don't know how else to describe my boiler.
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